Page 66 of Shattered Empire (Shattered World)

She had him there, but Dima just shrugged it off.

“Thought I’d try it while I was here.”

“Well,” Ava sighed despondently. “All right then. When are you coming home?”

Home.

“Soon,” Dima promised. “I’ll be coming soon,Pakhan.”

Ava smiled at him through the screen.

“Okay then.” She let out a wistful sigh, but otherwise left it alone. “Be safe, Dima.”

Dima nodded and gave her a small smile. Then she was gone.

“That was close,” Mark muttered underneath his breath a few moments after the door clicked shut behind him.

“Too close,” I growled.

Ivan chuckled. “That is what you get for not including her in the plan.”

Fuck him.

“Trust me,” Dima muttered petulantly. “We’ve all told him the same thing. But honestly, it was very last minute, and Ava has a horrible poker face.”

Ivan tilted his head. He couldn’t argue with that. He knew from experience just how bad Ava was at lying.

“We need to get back on track here,” I chastised them. “What are we going to do about Kirill?”

My brother sighed and ran a hand down his tired and worn face. For years, he hunted and searched for the truth behind Antony’s disappearance. I could not begin to imagine what he would have to do in order to gain the necessary information.

I had to hand it to Ivan. He was creative and willing to get his hands dirty. He was smart and cunning. Devious and brave. That didn’t mean we were suddenly going to have sleepovers and bond over sports, especially after his involvement with Ava’s kidnapping, but it was a foundation.

Plus, slitting Kirill’s throat would be a great brother bonding activity, in my opinion.

“I can’t touch him without our father’s approval.” The carefree way he saidour fatherboth warmed and tightened my chest. Tomas had always been my father. He raised me from a savage, rage-filled boy to the man I was today. Those times were hard, yes, but I recalled those halcyon days training under him with Vas as the best days of my life.

I still remember the first time he called me son. Vas and I had successfully taken down the inner-city gang that had been controlling parts of north Boston. They had been terrorizing the residents, stealing women and children from the streets to sell, and forcing businesses to pay an insane protection fee that nearly bankrupted half their territory.

A territory that had once belonged to theBratva.

We took it back.

“What kind of proof do you need?” Mark’s fingers flew across his keyboard, and moments later, document after document popped onto the screen. “I don’t have any proof regarding your mother,” Mark hedged nervously. “His tracks were too well covered. But these all prove he’s been skimming off the top for years.”

“That might not be enough,” Ivan admitted sadly. “Kirill is one of our father’s most trusted advisors. He was there for him in his darkest times. Even if he was the cause of it. Our father isn’t aware of that.”

“He won’t believe his own son?”

Ivan’s face fell, hurt shining through his platinum gray eyes.

“We had a falling out many years ago,” Ivan told us. “It is why I went undercover as an FBI agent. To prove what Kirill had been doing. That he was the cause of all our misfortune.”

Putting my hand on my brother’s shoulder, I gripped it tight, giving him my silent support. We needed to prove to Andrei that the evidence against Kirill was true.

“Kirill thinks you’re dead, right?” Mark’s lips turned up mischievously.

“Yes. Why does that matter now?”

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